The tip jar

How about in Asia? I live in Taiwan, and Tipping IS a city here.... Jokes..

Seriously tho, the concept of leaving a tip of any kind doesn't exist here. Taxis, restaurants, bars, etc, no way. It just doesn't happen. And trust me, having traveled around the world, the service here is THE BEST in the world. Intuitively, that makes sense. Do your job properly, and you get paid. It also helps that workers get paid a living wage, but that's a whole other discussion...

Anyway, I've never seen a tip jar over here for any live music, and we've never brought up the idea. There are lots of buskers with a tip jar in front of them, but you have to be get a busking license to play in public.

Yeah sorry I should have said Asia as well. We were in Vietnam a couple of years ago and everyone was so nice and the service was great you just really wanted to tip them. When you did they were shocked, especially in the north.
 
I think it used to be a good idea before everybody became uptight because everything is too expensive already.
 
As others have mentioned, I too kinda think it depends on the venue/situation. A band I played bass in a while back generally didn't put one out, but sometimes people from the crowd would come up and ask "where's the tip jar?" while waving a 5. Something to put that 5 in would appear pretty quick…
 
It depends on the venue down here in Texas. A lot of times bands have tips jars with the blinking light thing inside. A lot of times instead of announcing the tip jar, someone affiliated with the band - a good looking woman - will walk it around and ask for donations.

This happened a few months ago, a really great blues band played a venue near us, excellent harp player was fronting the band. The door cover was $10 but it was worth it. About half way through the evening, a really nice looking lady, who was obviously attached to someone in the band, walked around the tip jar. She coordinated her efforts during a particularly long harp solo, so it was done "in good taste." During breaks the band made sure someone from the band went around to all the tables and personally thanked the patrons for coming out. Classy move.
 
During breaks the band made sure someone from the band went around to all the tables and personally thanked the patrons for coming out. Classy move.

I've done this a couple times at some of our smaller jazz gigs. Not that we were playing for tips though. It usually happens because someone mentions that a few folks want to meet the drummer or something like that.

It's mostly at retirement homes, so it's a little odd to be sort of hit on by older women.
 
In my local scene, places that didn't pay the band would often allow for a tip jar. Sometimes this didn't amount to much, but we played several gigs in a lakeside resort town about an hour away over the summer one time, and one place had a tip bucket. The tips we got from the well-to-do clientele actually were more than the paid gig we got down the street the next week.
 
Unless the venue prohibits a tip jar, I say you're foolish for not having one out.

Cheapens the band? No.

You need to realize most ppl in the crowd don't know what's up, they don't know if its cool to tip, if its OK and most don't want to spend the effort to find out. Having a tip jar makes it clear, it shows ppl its ok to tip the band.

Bar gigs are where its at for tip jars, everyone else in a bar/club is working for tips, why should the band be excluded? Its closed minded thinking.

More than many times I've seen a person (random and friend of band) in the crowd grab the tip jar and and walk it around the place for the band, it went from nothing inside to packed full of green and everyone in the place was happy.
 
It completely depends on the venue and situation of how you are being paid etc. We always
use it when it is appropriate.
 
My cousin plays a lot of gigs around town here. I am going to hear him at a local brewpub tonight. He usually plays guitar and sings, and has a bass player. I am pretty sure he always has a tip jar, and does pretty well with it.

Last Friday I went to another pub and not only was there a tip jar, the wife of the guy playing went around with it between sets, shaking down the crowd. I kicked in a few bucks- the guy was pretty good, and it is nice to support live music.
 
Gee, for bar gigs it's standard operating procedure around here. The fifth member of the band, Phillip. Yep, Phil the tip jar. Also the tip walk, where someone walks around the venue with the jar. One group uses an old tom with one head on it. The trick with the tip walk is to get a friendly nice person to do it, especially if they're attractive. Sometimes various people take it upon themselves to help the band and grab the tip jar for a walk, and if they're aggressive about it people can be put off. The patrons know it's coming and the venues know it's standard practice and pay accordingly. I've seen situations where the band was especially good and the take from the tip jar was double the venue pay.
 
I think that I have to put out a tip jar, otherwise people walk up and put money in my pockets, under the mixer, all kinds of places.

At some venues I have to be discrete, so I just put out a plastic cup, no sign or anything on it.
 
Most shows I see where the band is getting tipped they are not actually making money at the door. I do think It cheapens the band and I don't think I would personally do it but I say give it a try if you like the idea. To each their own. However a Merch table with some t-shirts is another good way to make some extra money. Drunk people love buying stuff.

I agree with this 100%.
 
One time a guy payed us $150 cash for playing sweet home alabama. There were 3 of us and each got 50 for playing a song we didn't like. We haggled him up from just a request that was denied to that price. Pretty sure we didn't even get the song right, but the guitar nailed the solo stuff so he was happy.

He was wearing $800 Gucci loafers a 15k rolex and a really bad shirt (that was probably also a few hundred) so we didn't really feel like we were putting him out. He tipped the bar tender the change from 2 drinks on a hundred bill that I saw, maybe more. Probably a sales or finance guy who had a big score. Possibly just a drunk rich guy.

When we finished he asked for Free Bird. We told him that was $4000.
 
Seeing as a lot of our local summertime playing is for out-of-towners, and the pay isn't all that fantastic, we put out a tip jar unless we're specifically told not to do so.

In July, we had a gig cancel on us unexpectedly, and our guitar player finagled us a replacement gig at a local resort town on a river playing for a waterski and jetski competition awards dinner and after-party. Hmmmm, rich people who own powerboats? I'm in.

The gig was scheduled from 6 to 10, with the first two sets being lighter "behind dinner" music and the last two sets being reserved for the stay-behind party people. I had already played another gig that afternoon, so by the time 10 pm rolled around, I was pretty tuckered. We said good night and then someone handed the guitar player $100 for 30 more minutes of music. We said okay and pulled out a few more songs. Another guy pulled out another hundred for one more song. There were three or four "one more songs" like that, and then at 11 the bar owner said it was over. We doubled our pay in that last hour, plus the tips from earlier in the evening.

Moral of the story: If the clientele is well-to-do, put out a tip jar.
 
If you put one out, you have to put this on it:
funny-pics-of-funny-tip-jars-Hendrix-Tip-Jar.jpg
 
We use a tip jar, especially when we are playing benefits and are not otherwise being paid. Peace and goodwill.
 
If it's a corporate gig, a wedding, college, or any gig where there's a decent stage, then no tip jar.

If it's a brewery, winery, or bar, there's a tip jar. I think we have better luck whenever the tip jar is at the cash register as opposed to set up in front of us.
 
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